ARTICLES ABOUT CPR BY DATE - PAGE 4

Holiday gifts come in all shapes, sizes and forms, some more important than others. But for a Boynton Beach family, through police and the generous help of a neighbor, the gift was the life of 2-year-old Vitalice Dieujuste. The girl was pulled from the bottom of a pool Nov. 21 by her mother Elionore Dieujuste, who didn't know CPR. Not only did a dispatcher with the Boynton Beach Police Department talk her through the episode, but Tara Schuster, Dieujuste's neighbor, performed CPR until officer David Britto arrived on scene.

Elionore Dieujuste was speechless, so shocked to find her toddler floating in her backyard pool that she could hardly talk to the police dispatcher on the phone, she said. "I couldn't even remember my address," the 36-year-old Boynton Beach mother said of the Nov. 21 incident. "I thought [my baby] was dead. " The dispatcher calmed the toddler's mother down and told her and a neighbor how to perform CPR on the 2-year-old girl until police arrived at the home in the 600 block of Southwest Fourth Avenue, Elionore Dieujuste said.

Margate police are investigating the death of a 3-month-old girl who was in foster care. Gloryanna LeFrancois was placed in the care of a Margate couple Monday morning while her assigned foster mother went out of town, officials said. The couple, identified as David and Jessica Mas, told police that Jessica Mas, 41, discovered the baby was not breathing when she awoke at 5:40 a.m. Tuesday to give the baby a bottle. David Mas, 51, called 911 while his wife attempted to perform CPR on the baby, at the direction of a Margate communications operator, until paramedics reached the home in the 1400 block of Northwest 80th Avenue, police said.

A 2-year-old boy died after being found unconscious and not breathing in a suburban pool Sunday morning. Palm Beach County fire-rescue officials were called to the scene on Holly Brook Way in unincorporated Palm Beach County at about 11 a.m., said fire rescue spokesman Capt. Don DeLucia. The boy was given CPR and taken to Delray Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said sheriff's spokeswoman Terri Barbera. The child was not identified, and the investigation continues.

Miami-Dade police on Friday were investigating the death of a 3-year-old boy in southwest Miami-Dade. Fire rescue received a 911 call about a child who was not breathing at about 1:30 p.m. Friday, police said. They were called to a home in the 13100 block of Southwest 10th Street at the University Lakes Trailer Park. Rescuers were unable to resuscitate the child, and he later was pronounced dead. Initial reports had said the 3-year-old had been left in a car for 45 minutes.

More bystanders are willing to attempt CPR if an emergency dispatcher gives them firm and direct instructions -- especially if they can just press on the chest and skip the mouth-to-mouth, according to new research. The two new studies conclude that " hands-only" chest compression is enough to save a life. They are the largest and most rigorous yet to suggest that breathing into a victim's mouth isn't needed in most cases. The American Heart Association has been promoting hands-only CPR for two years, though it's not clear how much it's caught on. The new studies should encourage dispatchers and bystanders to be more aggressive about using the simpler technique.

Your chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest may depend on what neighborhood you live in, a new study suggests. Cardiac arrest, which occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, leads to death if not treated within minutes with cardiopulmonary resuscitation or defibrillation. The new study, which used data from a cardiac arrest registry in Georgia, analyzed by census tract more than 1,100 incidents of cardiac arrest over three years ending in November 2008. It found that some areas had consistently higher rates of cardiac arrest -- as well as lower rates of bystanders' doing CPR -- than others.

Members of the South Florida Playgroup recently toured a Hollywood fire station. The moms group organizes outings and events on a regular basis. Maranatha Brown said the group's purpose is to form a support system for mothers and their children. "It's important to know that no moms out there should feel isolated or alone," said Brown, the group's founder. Battalion Chief Morris James gave the group a behind-the-scenes-tour of the firehouse at 2741 Stirling Road. One of the first stops was the kitchen.